Box Office: Avengers: Age of Ultron Continues Its Global Domination

Although Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures’ Avengers: Age of Ultron had a pretty major 60% drop in its second weekend (even without a boxing match on Saturday night), it continued to reign over the box office with a second weekend take of $77.2 million domestically and another $68 million internationally. That $145 million weekend take for the movie brought its global total to $875 million after three weeks, although it’s not going to hit a billion worldwide in quite the same record time as last month’s Furious 7, which hit that milestone in 17 days. $9.5 million of Age of Ultron‘s weekend take was grossed in its global IMAX release which has amassed $57 million to date. The sequel will open in China at midnight on May 12 where it’s likely to help it reach the billion mark with many of its IMAX showings already reportedly sold out.

Opening in 3,003 theaters on Friday, the Reese Witherspoon-Sofia Vergara comedy Hot Pursuit (MGM/New Line/WB) came in a very distant second place with an estimated $13.3 million for an average of $4,429 per location. Although the movie might be getting a nice bump from Mother’s Day, the movie’s C+ CinemaScore is not a good sign for the movie’s word-of-mouth.

In anticipation for its North American release on Thursday, May 14, Universal released Pitch Perfect 2 a week early in Australia and New Zealand where it grossed an impressive $8.8 million.

The winner of this week’s “third place derby” was The Age of Adaline (Summit/Lionsgate), starring Blake Lively, with $5.6 million, down just 10% in its third weekend, presumably bolstered by a bump from projected Mother’s Day business. It has grossed $31.5 million so far.

The year’s other box office mega-blockbuster, Universal Pictures’ Furious 7 took fourth place with $5.3 million to bring its domestic gross to $338.4 million, followed by the comedy sequel Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Sony) with $5.2 million, down just 12% from the previous weekend, with a domestic total of just over $58 million. Furious 7 is close to hitting $1.5 billion worldwide as it edges closer to the current third place box office champ, Marvel’s The Avengers. 

Alex Garland’s sci-fi thriller Ex Machina (A24) expanded into over 2,000 theaters on Friday, allowing it to be the only movie in the Top 10 to be up from last weekend with a 52% bump as it moved up one notch to sixth place with $3.5 million and a total gross of $15.8 million, almost twice what it’s grossed overseas (Although it’s only opened in 13 other territories including Garland’s home country, the United Kingdom).

DreamWorks Animation’s animated film Home (20th Century Fox) dropped to seventh place with $3 million and $162.5 million grossed domestically so far.

The rest of the Top 10 made less than $2 million, with the Helen Mirren-Ryan Reynolds drama Woman in Gold (The Weinstein Company) leading the way with $1.7 million as it moved up two notches followed closely by Disney’s Cinderella with $1.6 million and Universal Pictures’ Unfriended with $1.4 million.

Probably one of the more questionable decisions of the weekend was IFC Films’ to release the Jack Black-James Marsden Sundance comedy The D Train into 1,009 theaters which could have amounted to a Top 10 placement but instead ended up well outside with $469,000, or $456 per theater. That would put it among the unenviable ranks of the worst opening weekend per-theater averages ever. 

The box office was down from the same weekend last year when the R-rated Seth Rogen-Zac Efron comedy Neighbors topped the box office with $49 million and the #2 movie The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took in $35 million.

As far as limited releases, Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman starred in the comedy 5 Flights Up (Focus Features), which opened in 87 theaters to the tune of $234,000, or $2,690 per theater. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin starred in the zombie drama Maggie (Roadside Attractions), which opened in 79 theaters to gross $131,000 or $1,658 per theater.

The period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (Fox Searchlight), starring Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge and Juno Temple, expanded into 99 theaters in select cities where it added another $760,700, enough to bring its total to $1 million after ten days. It should continue to expand wider over the next few weeks.